Thomas and the Court

Thomas and the Court

Article excerpt

AFTER a weekend of extraordinary public hearings that left the
charges of sexual harassment against Judge Clarence Thomas
thoroughly aired, if not resolved, the Senate has acted. Judge
Thomas will sit on the Supreme Court of the United States.

Open-mindedness is a strength in a judge, a strength that Thomas
claimed during his earlier confirmation process. Following the
ordeal of the last few days, he ought to be immeasurably more open
to such critical legal issues as the Fifth Amendment protection
against self-incrimination, due process of law, equality of
treatment under the law, the right to privacy, and, yes, sexual
harassment.

The nominee's chief area of strength, before the weekend's
hearings, was character. He seemed a man of firm principles. Those
credentials of character were impugned, however, by the harassment
allegations.

Surveys indicate that a majority of Americans are with the
judge, having decided either that the charges were false, or that
the judge has to be given the benefit of the doubt. Other millions
of Americans are firmly convinced of the truth of the allegations
against Thomas.

Clarence Thomas is not the first person to join the court under
a cloud. Justice Hugo Black, for example, was known to have been a
member of the Ku Klux Klan. …